Wake Forest University’s annual Hit the Bricks fundraiser has set another record, drawing 2,406 runners and walkers and raising nearly $407,000 for cancer research and patient care.
The Oct. 1 event surpassed the previous year’s fundraising and participation records, according to Wake Forest News, while the university’s Hit the Bricks website and Office of Civic and Community Engagement provide additional details about the event’s long-running role in supporting the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund. Held on the Wake Forest campus in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Hit the Bricks brings students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the wider community together for a day-long relay around the university’s Quad.
Participants take turns running or walking laps, with teams raising money throughout the event.The 2026 edition saw participants complete 11,862 laps while collectively raising nearly $407,000 for the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund, which supports cancer research and patient services at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. The latest total represents a jump from 2025, when more than 2,264 participants raised over $348,000.
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s 2025 impact report records the previous fundraiser at $348,719, confirming the event’s record-setting performance that year.
With the 2026 fundraiser included, Hit the Bricks has now raised more than $2.1 million over its 23-year history, according to Wake Forest. The university says the total remains preliminary as fundraising connected to this year’s event continues to be finalized.
A campus tradition built around cancer research
Hit the Bricks was established in 2003 as a student-led philanthropic event. It is one of several Wake Forest initiatives supporting the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund, which was established by students in 1980 in memory of Brian Piccolo, the former Wake Forest football player and Chicago Bears running back.Piccolo died in 1970 at the age of 26 after being diagnosed with embryonal cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of germ cell testicular cancer.
His life and friendship with fellow Chicago Bears player Gale Sayers later became widely known through the film Brian’s Song. The cancer research fund bearing his name continues to support research and treatment efforts through Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist.The event itself is structured as more than a conventional race. Teams compete to raise money and accumulate laps, while participants spend the day moving around Hearn Plaza and the surrounding Quad.
Wake Forest describes the gathering as a campus-wide philanthropic effort designed to combine fundraising with community participation.
From student fundraiser to multimillion-dollar effort
The scale of Hit the Bricks has grown considerably since its early years. Wake Forest’s event archive shows that the 2021 edition raised about $202,788, while the 2022 fundraiser brought in nearly $242,934. The 2024 event raised more than $304,500 from 2,123 participants.The latest figures mark another step in that progression. In a single day, thousands of people took part in the 2026 event, helping push the fundraiser’s cumulative total beyond $2.1 million.
Hit the Bricks is also part of a broader philanthropic programme at Wake Forest dedicated to the Piccolo fund. The university says its annual student-led events, including Hit the Bricks, Wake ’N Shake and Pump Up for Piccolo, have collectively raised more than $6.5 million for cancer research and related programmes.For Wake Forest, the appeal of Hit the Bricks lies in its unusual combination of competition, fundraising and remembrance. What began as a student initiative more than two decades ago has evolved into one of the university’s largest recurring community fundraisers, with each year’s laps adding to a much larger effort to support cancer research and patient care.